Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint White Chocolate Ganache

My tribute to St Patrick's Day and a bad day treat for myself. Not bad huh?

This is a moist delicious chocolate cake made with brown sugar and sour cream. It has a rich chocolate goodness that is awesome.

I decided to icing these cupcakes with a silky mint white chocolate ganache. Now we are talking pure decadent pleasure. I enjoyed every mouthful!

I made the ganache and then divided it and made half of it green in a tribute to St Patrick's Day. This is a rich ganache; almost truffle like, so a little goes a long way. You can lighten it up if you choose but I was going for the full works! There are loads of ganache recipes; the one that follows is more the ratio for truffles. I use this when decorating with ganache or when decadence is called for.

These are wonderful for any occasion. The ganache can be colored to fit any occasion or simply left its natural color. These are delightful with the white ganache and sprinkled with crushed starlight mints. Make some for your favorite occasion; chocolate and mint...how can you go wrong?

I have the recipe ingredients below as originally written; I only changed up the mixing steps. I always omit the coffee granules when making this cake but add them in if you like coffee flavor in your cakes. I confess that I can not tolerate anything coffee and sweet related. I love coffee and sugar but can't handle the two together. I never waste my efforts making any dessert that has coffee flavor in it. That's my quirk, so I've put it in the recipe for those that enjoy it.

Decadent Chocolate Cake adapted from Wilton

• 3 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
  
• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 3/4 cups sour cream
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs (room temperature)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Grease and flour pans if not using cupcake liners.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt unsweetened chocolate; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, dissolve the cocoa powder and coffee (if using) in hot water; stir well. Stir in sour cream and salt, set aside. I medium bowl combine flour and soda; whisk well and set aside.


In large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy; add sugar and beat again till combined and fluffy. Stir in vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add eggs; one at a time, mixing just until yellow disappears. Do not over beat at this point. Next, add melted chocolate and blend well; scraping bowl well. Add half of flour mixture and add a small portion of the sour cream mixture; just enough to make the flour mix in well. Now add rest of flour and stir just until combined. Add remaining liquid and stir until combined. Do not overmix your cake at this point.

Divide batter among pans. Bake layers at 35-42 minutes; start checking at 30 minutes. if making cupcakes start checking them at 15 minutes and may take up to 20 minutes.

Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.




Mint White Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 16 ounces good quality white chocolate , chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter (optional but good)
• 2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Place chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl. Heat cream and butter (if using) till almost to the boiling point. Remove cream from heat and stir in extract until combined. Pour hot cream mixture over chopped chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted and thoroughly combined; at this point stir in any food coloring if using and stir to combine. Cover and let the mixture cool to room temperature. When mixture is cool put in mixer and whip until light and fluffy. This will not double in volume but will be fluffy for cupcakes. If using as a piping; you can skip whipping it. Icing cupcakes as desired.

Tips:

• The ganache can be made on its own, chilled, no need to whip and rolled into truffles and decorated as desired. Yum!
• This is a heavier ganache version made for use on cupcakes as shown. If you wish to icing a cake or would like a much thicker icing on your cakes I would double the cream and half the chocolate for a light fluffy version. This version is less dense but still very tasty.
• Omit the mint extract and use on a cake of your choice.
  
• This recipe works equally well with semi-sweet chocolate. Have fun...make it yours.

These were so delicious; I couldn't get the photographer to leave them alone. I hope you enjoy!




I'm glad you're here, pull up a chair and sit a spell.

Mountain Belle

This post is being linked to:

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace

Corned Beef and Cabbage Pizza

It's that time of year when we start thinking of St Patrick's day and all things Irish. I came across this pizza recipe on Food Network and thought I would give it a try. It had corned beef, cabbage and potatoes; it fit in with St Patrick's and sounded good to me. Here's my version and opinions on this recipe.

I have a houseful of teens most of the time and of course they all love pizza. My husband is not that crazy about pizza; he mostly objects to the pizza sauce. I have never been able to get many dishes past my family that involved cooked cabbage; this pizza was a challenge. It has no tomatoes but plenty of cabbage and I decided to put it to the test. I did load it up with extra cheese as you can tell by the photo; my crew loves cheese.

I had made plans to make this pizza but my day started to fall apart pretty quickly; so, I cheated and used store bought crusts. That's a whole wheat crust in the pictures, I didn't really burn it!

I will post the recipe as I originally found it but this recipe does need some modifications. This is one of the few ways I have managed to get cabbage by my crew; with summer coming and lots of fresh cabbage soon to be available I will try this again but make some changes. We love to use the grill in the summer to make pizzas, I'll try this again on the grill. It has redeeming qualities but needs a boost. I will post the suggestions I think it needs at the end of the recipe. I also think this recipe will be a great way to dress up some leftovers; it does have possibilities.


Corned Beef and Cabbage Pizza from Food Network

• Crusts for 2 pizzas (your favorite dough or pre-made crust)
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plue more for the pan
• 3 sliced green cabbage
• kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon pickling spices, tied securely in cheesecloth
• 1 large potato, peeled and thinly sliced
• freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups shredded mozerella cheese
• 3/4 cup monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 6 ounces slice corned beef

Heat 1 T olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cabbage, season with salt and and cook until just soft, about 5 minutes. Add the pickling spices and just enough water to cover. Simmer over low heat, covered, until the cabbage is tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the cabbage and set aside; discard the spices.

Place a pizza stone in the oven, if you have one, and preheat to 500 degrees. Toss potatoes with 2 T olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a single layer on a baking sheet until golden, about 15 minutes.

Place a pizza dough round on a pizza peel (if using stone) or on an oiled pizza pan; drizzle with 2 T olive oil. Scatter half of each of the cheeses, corned beef, cabbage and potatoes on crust. Season with salt and pepper. Carefully slip the pizza onto the hot stone, if using, or place pan in the oven. Cook until golden and crispy, 10-15 minutes. Repeat with remaining pizza crust/dough and toppings.


Tips/suggestions:

• Personally I did not find that the potatoes added that much to the pizza. In the future if I have some leftover potatoes in the fridge I may toss them on but I will not go to the effort of peeling and roasting them just for this pizza; not enough of a flavor boost for the trouble.
  

• This could be made with the canned corned beef to make it a little more economical. Also, if you have some leftover corned beef roast, chop the leftovers for this pizza.

• I think it needs some onions added to it for a nice flavor boost. I will add these next time.
  

• I think some russian or thousand island dressing would add a nice flavor also; kinda of add a reuben sandwich flavor to the pizza.

• If you have a tea ball, they work great instead of cheesecloth for the pickling spices.

• If you are a fan of caraway seeds, I think a few tossed on the pizza would be a pleasant addition.

• I was in a hurry and did not make homemade dough and I was out of my stash of homemade crusts in the freezer. I think homemade dough would have been better.

I think this has some serious potential with the right kind of changes. Let me know what you come up with.

I'm glad you're here, pull up a chair and sit a spell.

Mountain Belle